Interviews with students and alumni

CDL-Atlantic: Accelerating Business Opportunities

New Dalhousie offering provides students with the opportunity to spend entire days with 3 billionaires.

Launched in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the CDL has emerged as the leading accelerator program in Canada. The program is designed to assist early-stage companies with guidance from entrepreneurs and angel investors, world-renowned experts from leading academic institutions, and top MBA students from business schools across the country.

This fall has brought a new opportunity for Dalhousie’s CRMBA students interested in exploring entrepreneurial skills through the Atlantic expansion of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) program. Participating students will work with business leaders, academic experts, and entrepreneurs to help grow seed businesses into high-growth companies.

Ken Rowe (left) and John Risley (right) at the CDL-Atlantic launch event.

Cory MacRae, CRMBA 2018 Candidate, recognized the unique learning experience early on. “With the leadership mentoring from the G7 members to the impact we could provide to seed companies,” he says, “the opportunity seemed too good to pass up.”

One of the defining features of CDL is the chance for students to interact with G7 members, chief scientists, top business school faculty, and CDL partners in full-day sessions. Mentors include the founders of WIND MobileTM, Workbrain, Kik and KoboTM, as well as those sold to Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Salesforce.

Another CRMBA 2018 Candidate participating in CDL is Priyanka Kochhar, who views the program as an opportunity to step outside her comfort zone. “I saw CDL as an opportunity to take a risk and worry more about learning and less about grades,” she explains. “I am most excited to engage with entrepreneurs who are passionate about their start ups. I hope to feed off their energy and develop a bit of passion for a project myself.”

Louis Beaubien, CDL-Atlantic Co-Lead and Academic Director, agrees: “The program really is an amazing opportunity. It is a chance to be part of something that will develop and grow the socio-economic landscape of Atlantic Canada. At the same time it’s an opportunity to engage with students in areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, and work with them to develop skills that will help them grow and develop the communities of which they are a part whether it is Atlantic Canada or somewhere else.

“I’m most excited to obtain real-world, practical experience as well as gain exposure to a vast network of entrepreneurs and investors,” says David Hatcher, CRMBA Candidate 2018. “I’m looking forward to understanding the start-up environment and the challenges founders face when starting a business. I’m excited to learn how to merge the different aspects of business that we learn in classes and apply these concepts to real-world problems faced by entrepreneurs.”

MacRae echoes his sentiment: “I am looking forward to improving my ability to work with clients (CDL companies) and help them move in positive directions.”

In addition to Rotman School of Management and Rowe School of Business, CDL is offered at Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, HEC Montréal, and Vancouver’s Sauder School of Business.